DOS Trouble

[nassiri]

In part of computer engineering class and im having problems with the DOS. Keep in mind that this is an old computer that isnt for personal use, but for a computer engineering class. The computer when it starts up, /a/ doesnt show a memory scan or anything, it shows a screen that says DIGITAL and when it loads to DOS it freezes, no access to ty ping or anything. I tried a different hardrive and the same thing happened so i put the old harddrive back in and now it says 'OPERATING SYSTEM NOT FOUND', and then it freezes. But that could be because i never double checked if i installed the hardrive back in right. Any solutions or hints? I am really stumped. BTW this is gr 11 comp eng class.

[snowmonkey]

Welcome to this forum with your first post

In order for you to get rid of the starting Logo such as "DIGITAL" go to BIOS and disable the fast start, then mach sure your hard drive in recognized in IDE Auto Detect, then save the setting and reboot, if you still get the 'OPERATING SYSTEM NOT FOUND' message then there could be two reason.
1- Operating system does not exist
2- Operating system exist by the drive is not set to "active mode"

I hope that helps


Cheers

[harry12]

snowmonkey may be right but I would urge caution.....what has caused this change?
OK you may have added to it with the HDD but be careful you don't wreck everything in sight.

Something to consider with old motherboards is the BIOS battery - these were recharged until Lithium came on the scene (giving abt 10 years then Nowt) - it may be a good idea to charge it for a day (disconnect the HDD power, to save moving the heads) even if that isn't the current problem.
I'd be inclined to go to the BIOS at switch-on and make a note of the settings, sometimes studying these can show up potential errors.
Failing that it might just be the OS has croaked the HDD is no more. If it's noisy and keeps clicking expect the worst.
Replacing can be troublesome as the motherboard may not address a large HDD - but I suspect a newer motherboard would do just as well - provided you have the OS and Program discs.

Just what program is so special that engineer students are still using it? I must admit to having a PC with DOS/Win3.1 (Like dual-boot) for a decrepid copy of Autosketch - an engineering drawing package just like real pencils. I use it to produce printed templates, selotape them to metal and pop-mark them through for drilling - the package allows minute adjustment to get the size right (I use )0.995:1 - I think) and it supports really long prints.

No doubt there are better CAD packages but bloatware Rules just makes working more difficult. Good Luck.

Whatever you do, don't get the blame!